Car-derailing device.



A. P. LE DOUX..

GAR DBRAILING DEVICE.

APPLIGATION FILED AUG. 22-, 1914.

1,1 32,780, Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

WI T IVE 88E 8 v llVVf/VTOR M 0, 0569mm ATTORNEY THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHDTO-LITHO.. WASHINGTONv D. c.

ANDREW P. LE IDOUX. OF SULTAN', WASHINGTON.

CAE-DERAILING DEVICE.

Application filed August 22, 1914. Serial No. 858,016.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, ANDREW P. Lu DOUX, citizen of the United States, residing at Sultan, in the county of Snohomish and State of Washington, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Car- Derailing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for derailing cars and the object of my improvement is to provide a simple and efficient device that may be associated with a locomotive engine in such manner that it may be operatedto uncouple such engine from a train of cars to which it is connected and drop a derailing apparatus on the railroad track in the path of said cars to derail them, leaving such engine free on the" railroad track to be stopped at will. I accomplish this object by devices'illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of the tender and cab of a locomotive engine to which my invention is attached such engine being shown as connected with an ordinary flat car; Fig. 2 is a view in vertical crosssection on the broken line A, A of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary viewin side elevation of a portion of the rear end of the tender shown in Fig. 1, wherein are shownv parts of my derailing device in an operative position; and Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of a derailing block embodied in my invention.

In the operation of logging railroads in hilly countries where grades are steep it is often impossible to hold a heavy train load of logs on a down grade with the brakes that are provided on the logging engines and logging cars, and it frequently happens, in spite of great precaution, that a train load of logs' will become uncontrollable and run away down a steep grade to cause great damage by wrecking the engine, endangering the life of the engineer, and breaking up the logging cars in a general wreck due to the high rate of speed attained by the train in its down grade movement; and it is the purpose of my invention to provide a means within the control of the engineer by which the engine may be uncoupled from the cars and then the cars be immediately derailed if the engineer finds that he is unable to control the speed of his train, thus preventing the engine from being wrecked with the killed or injured, and, moreoverthecars may thus be derailed before the train has attained a high rate of speed, thus inflicting less damage on the. cars than if they were permitted to attain a high speed before being wrecked.

Referring to the drawings, throughout which like reference numerals indicate like parts, 5 is the tender of a logging locomotive and 6 is a fiat carthat is coupled to the tender 5 and may be loaded with logs 7 or with any material, the car 6 being the first of a number of cars that may be coupled together to make up a train.

For the purpose of derailing the car 6 and other succeeding cars that make up the train, I have provided a derailing block 8 that is disposed to be carried below the rear end of the tender 5 at a short distance abovev the rails 14 of the railroad track, such block being secured against horizontal .movement by two shafts or studs 9 that project downwardly from the floor of the tender 5 and extend through holes 10 in the block 8 and being supported to prevent it from dropping downwardly by hook shaped support. ing arms 11 which are secured to a shaft 12' that is pivotally mounted in brackets 13 that project downwardly from the bottom of the tender 5, there being provided on the studs 9 above the block 8 compression springs 31 to insure that the block 8 will drop downwardly on the rails 1d when it is released by the supporting arms 11.

The shaft 12 has its outer end secured to the lower end of a crank arm 15 which crank arm has its upper end articulated with an actuating rod 16 by a pivot 17, the actuating rod 16 being disposed to extend forwardly along the side of the tender 5 and having its other end connected by another pivot 18 with a lever 19 that is within convenient reach of the engineer, whereby the engineer may be enabled to swing the hook-shaped supports 12 forwardly into the position shown in Fig. 3 to release the block 8 and permit it to drop on the rail 14 to de rail the car 6, there also being provided in connection with the actuating rod 16 suit-v able mechanism for uncoupling the engine 5 from the car 6 at the same time or just before the derailing block 8 is dropped'on the rails 14, such mechanism consisting in a link r 20 one end of which is connected with the cars and saving the engineer from being end of the actuating rod 16 by the pivot 17 and the lower end of which is articulated with the free end of a crank arm 21 that is secured to a shaft 22, which shaft 22 is rotatably supported in brackets 23 on the tender 5 and extends inwardly in a horizontal position to the center of such tender at which point it is provided with an outwardly projecting crank arm 24 that projects rearwardly from the tender 5 to a point above the coupling 25 between the tender 5 and the car 6 and such crank arm 24 has a chain 26 that connects its free end with a coupling pin 27 whereby such pin 27 may be lifted upwardly to uncouple the tender 5 from the car 6 at the same time or before the derailing block 8 is dropped.

The derailing block 8 may be constructed of various different shapes to accomplish the result sought, but I have illustrated only one formof it in Fig. 4, in which the block 8 isshown to be of a length greater than the distance between the two rails 14, and is provided in its bottom portion with two transverse U-shaped slots or grooves 28 that are spaced a sufficient distance apart to be directly above the rails 14 when the block 8 is in positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2,wherebyfwhen such block 8 is released and allowed to drop on the track, the grooves 28 will fit over the rails 14, and such block 8 is provided near its rear edge with downwardly projecting prongs 29 that are adapted to engage with the ties to which the rails 14 are secured to prevent such block 8 from sliding on the rails 14 and is further provided on its top surface with annular derailing ridges 30 that engage with the flanges on the wheels of a car to cause such wheels to be deflected out of line with the rails 14 as they pass over the block 8, thus throwing the car wheels off of the track to derail the car.

The normal position of the various parts of my derailing device are clearly shown in Fig. 1, but if the engineer should lose control of the train while moving down a steep grade and the train should start to run away, as frequently happens in logging operations where heavy loads of timber are handled, then the engineer should grasp the lever 19 and pull it backwardly into the position shown by broken lines in Fig. 1, thus moving the actuating rod 16 backwardly, which will move the top end of the crank arm 15 and thereby turn the shaft 12 and throw the block supporting arm 11 away from the derailing block 8 to permit such block 8 to drop on the rails 14, as more clearly shown in Fig. 3, while the link 20, operating at the same time, will move the crank arm 21 and turn the shaft 22 thus raising the outer end of the crank arm 24 and; lifting the coupling pin 27 to uncouple the tender 5 from the car 6 to permit such tender to proceed without such car, the car 6 and all other cars that form part of the train striking the block 8 and being thrown off of the track before they have attained a high velocity, thus inflicting as little injury as possible on the cars of such train while the wrecking of the engine, and possible in jury of the engineer, is prevented.

Obviously my derailing device may be used on any railroad in connection with any type of engine and numerous changes in the form and arrangement of the various details inbodied therein may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my inven tion or sacrificingany of its advantages.

What I claim is:

1. In a car derailing device of the class described, the combination with the tender of a railroad locomotive, of a car derailing block, means for releasably supporting said derailing block at the rear end portion of the tender of said locomotive in a position above and adjacent to the rails upon which said locomotive travels, coupling means between the tender and adjacent car, actuating means connected with said releasable supporting means and extending therefrom to a position within the cab of said locomotive, said actuating means further being connected with the coupling means whereby one may operate said releasable supporting means to drop said derailing block on the rails upon which said locomotive travels, and simultaneously uncouple the tender and adjacent car.

2. In a car derailing device of the class described, the combination with the tender of a railroad locomotive, of a car derailing block; means for releasably supporting said derailing block at the rear end portion of the tender of said locomotive in a position above and adjacent to the rails upon which said locomotive travels; releasing means connected with said releasable supporting means and extending therefrom to a position within the cab of said locomotive; a car coupling pin for coupling a car to the rear end of the tender of said locomotive; mechanism associated with said car coupling pin and with said releasing means whereby when said releasing means is actuated to release and drop said derailing block then said car coupling pin shall be raised to, uncouple said locomotive from a car.

3. In a car derailing device of the class described, the combination with the tender of a railroad locomotive, of guiding pins disposed to extend downwardly from said tender; helical compression springs each disposed to surround one of said guiding pins; a derailing block provided with holes into which said guiding pins may be in serted to cause the upper surface of said derailing block to engage with the lower ends of said compression springs to compress them; and releasable means for normally supporting said derailing block in a position to compress said compression spring. a

4. The combination with the tender of a railroad locomotive, of a derailing block positioned rearwardly thereof, means carried by the tender for supporting the block, block-actuating means for the supporting means, and car coupling means associated with the block-actuating means whereby the block is dropped on the track simultaneously with the uncoupling of the cars.

5. The combination with the tender of a railroad locomotive, of a derailing block positioned rearwardly thereof, studs carried it Copiea of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the by said tender slidably engaging said block, means carried by the tender for supporting the block, means associated with said studs adapted to hold the block positioned on the supporting means therefor, and actuating means for the supporting means whereby the block is positioned transversely of the track.

In witness whereof, I, hereunto subscribe my name this 24th day of July A. D., 1914;.

ANDREW P. LE DOUX.

i Vitnesses:

Z. B. KINsEY, JOHN STRATING.

commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

